


Long Term Planning

by Vipersweb (Rhianona)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-13
Updated: 2011-11-13
Packaged: 2017-10-26 01:16:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/276942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhianona/pseuds/Vipersweb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Narcissa Malfoy wants to rehabilitate the Malfoy reputation in the Wizarding world. What better way than to encourage a friendship between her grandson and the Potter/Weasley children? When Scorpius falls into a river and finds himself between Harry and Ginny, he feels warm for the first time in his life. Over a decade later, he wants that feeling again...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Long Term Planning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ships_harry](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=ships_harry).



Grandmére insists he socializes with the Potters and Weasleys, her arguments overriding his father’s dislike and annoyance at a Malfoy lowering himself to actually befriend the ‘dirty Mudblood-loving bloodtraitors.’

His father spends a week recovering from the curses Grandmére unleashes on him. Grandpére remains suspiciously quiet, though Scorpius recognizes the fury in his eyes. His mother is more interested in the latest fashions from Paris to do more than simply wave her hand in acknowledgement.

No one asks him what he wants.

Scorpius is the means by which the Malfoys will resume their place in Wizarding society. Grandmére will not let the past actions of her husband and son cause the family to fall into complete disrepute as has happened to the Parkinsons and Goyles. Potter helps by facilitating Grandmére’s reacquaintance with her sister, the one blasted off the Black family tree from daring to marry a Muggleborn. He always feels awkward when he visits the home of Andromeda Tonks, née Black and her grandson, Theodore, though not because of them. He likes his great aunt and his cousin, thinks it is cool how Teddy can change his appearance on a whim.

Quite simply, he doesn’t know how to react to a family that merges the traditions of the Wizarding world with that of the Muggle one. It means he holds himself stiffly whenever he visits.

Grandmére and Great Aunt Andromeda scheme to bring the Potter and Weasley children into his life. He never knows how to act around them. They’re friendly enough but so rambunctious, so full of life! Scorpius has never been around children who act as they do, especially in front of their parents. It’s only when they drag him outside and away from the adults that he starts to unbend a little.

He still can’t keep from looking over his shoulder, almost cringing in anticipation of the scolding his Grandmére will give him for acting with such little decorum.

It never happens. He doesn’t know if she never realizes how much of a hoyden he acts with them, or if her desire to reestablish the family name supersedes even this.

***

Lord and Lady Potter act nothing like his parents or grandparents.

From comments he overhears (accidentally, of course) he knows his father was betrothed to the Parkinson daughter from the age of eight. Grandmére ends it after the War and instead secures the youngest Greengrass daughter for her son. She only succeeds because of her status as War heroine. Lying to the Dark Lord and keeping the Conqueror alive serves to keep her out of Azkaban and to grant leniency to her son and husband. Lucius Malfoy ceases to become the power behind the throne and Narcissa Malfoy becomes the Head of the family in all but name. Marriage to Astoria Greengrass will help rehabilitate the Malfoy family and Grandmére wants that more than anything. Scorpius suspects Lord Greengrass agreed to the marriage because Grandmére knows something about his activities during the War he would rather not be found out.

Blackmail between Slytherins is a deadly, but lucrative game. And the loss of his youngest daughter costs him little. His parents tolerate each other, put on a great front when in public and live polite and separate lives.

The Potters are the complete opposite.

Everyone in the Wizarding world knows how Lord Potter broke off his attachment to Ginerva Weasley to protect her while he sought the means to defeat the Dark Lord. How Ginerva had helped to lead the resistance in Hogwarts, preparing the students for when Lord Potter called upon them. How, after the War, Lord Potter would not consider anyone other than Ginerva for his wife.

They are ridiculously in love and while his father and Grandpére scoff at how often they demonstrate that love in public, Scorpius envies them. He wishes his parents acted like them instead of the polite façade they present to the world. His parents have a ‘comfortable’ marriage with little love on either side.

The first time he spends the night at the Potter house, he’s shocked that Al’s parents don’t have separate bedrooms. And when Lady Potter (call me Ginny) tucks him into bed he can’t keep the bewildered look from his face. No one has tucked him into bed since he outgrew shortpants.

***

His relationship with the Potters is complicated; Al is his best friend and Lily comes to him for fashion advice, while James treats him like any of his younger brother’s friends, which is to say, he ignores him. Not because he’s a Malfoy, but because he’s younger than him and in the guidebook of teenage boys the world round, one does not spend time with the younger set unless forced to by one’s parents.

Grandmére stuffs his head with etiquette lessons and Wizarding traditions; she arranges ‘suitable’ social engagements for him, overriding his father’s protests. The day he receives an invitation to spend time at the Potter estate, Grandmére smiles with a mixture of relief, scorn and scheming. She doesn’t actually like Lord Potter or his family. “I would rather you did not have to associate with them, my dear grandson,” she tells him. “If the Malfoys are to regain their status, we will need allies. Use your friendship with the Potter boy to your advantage.”

Scorpius knows his duty is to his family. That they expect him to raise their fortunes so that once again, the Malfoys will be the shadow behind the king.

He just wants friends.

***

The invitation to join the Potters on a camping trip surprises Scorpius. He’s best friends with Al and gets along well with Lily and James but he’s also a Malfoy, something Mister (Ron) Weasley never lets him forget. (‘Ignore Uncle Ron,’ Al tells him shortly after he becomes a regular visitor to the Potter estate. ‘Mum says he’s an idiot and Aunt Hermione says he needs to grow up.’) Father doesn’t want to let him join them but Grandmére accepts it over his protests.

“We do not refuse an invitation from Lord Potter without a very good reason, Draco,” she says. “You will let Scorpius attend. You should be thankful that Lord Potter has allowed his children to befriend your son.”

“But, Mother!” Draco whines only to fall silent with a huff of displeasure at Grandmére’s arched eyebrow. Scorpius hides his smirk; his father never wins when he tries to go against her. No one in the family does, not even his mother. (Not that she ever tries.) “Fine,” his father bites out. “Scorpius may go.”

Which is how Scorpius finds himself hiking alongside Al in the German countryside, his rucksack digging uncomfortably into his shoulders, even with the featherweight charms on it. He huffs as he strives to keep up with his friend.

“You need to run around more,” Al says. Scorpius merely raises an eyebrow with disdain. Al snorts. “Yeah, sorry mate. Forgot just who your parents are.” He ruffles Scorpius’ hair ignoring his squawk, and laughs.

“Grandmére prefers that I look presentable,” he says and Al nods with understanding.

“Aunt Andy tries her best with us too, but it doesn’t really work. Mum makes sure we have manners but other than that, she doesn’t care. And dad hates going into public anyway,” he says.

Lord Potter, (‘No, really Scorpius. You should call me Harry,’ he says each time Scorpius addresses him as such. It’s hard to break his training to do so.), hates his fame. He avoids the Press, avoids Ministry events except when he can’t. Sometimes, Scorpius thinks the only reason his friendship with Al and the rest of the Potters (and the handful of Weasley’s who don’t dismiss him automatically because he’s a Malfoy) survives is because Lord -- _Harry_ \-- Potter (and by extension his family) rarely go out in public. The Press can’t complain about the Malfoy’s sullying the Savior’s family if they don’t realize just how much time he spends with them.

 

***

Scorpius wakes with a start, confused and bewildered as he tries to remember where he is. He’s surrounded by warmth, front and back and he stiffens as he realizes he is between two warm bodies. Two warm bodies who have wrapped themselves around him. He squints in the low light that fill the room and sees tousled black hair in front of him. He would assume it’s Albus but for the faint lightning bolt scar he can barely make out on the forehead. As he recognizes the man who he faces, the day’s events come flooding back and his heart pounds with an emotion he can’t identify.

Falling into the river near where they have set up camp had not been part of Scorpius’ plans for the day. He dimly remembers Harry jumping in after him and rescuing him, Ginny throwing warming charms over them and handing out Pepper Ups, and Al making him drink hot chocolate. He has vague memories of the worried faces that surround him, of someone taking his hand and bringing him into one of the bedrooms in the tent James hastily set up. Of two people stripping him down and putting new and dry clothes on him and placing him in the big bed in the center of the room. Of a warming charm placed on the blankets and two bodies slipping in on either side of him and wrapping him in their arms. Of falling asleep safe and warm for the first time in his life.

He aches and doesn’t know why.

***

His father, Scorpius comes to realize, has not grown out of the beliefs that constrained him as a youth. He still sees the Potters and Weasleys as the ‘most Gryffindor of Gryffindors’ and ‘Blood Traitors.’ It does not matter that Grandmére has done her best to erase such words from her husband and son’s minds; the Malfoy men continue to hold fast to their beliefs.

Scorpius, for his part, is only thankful that Grandmére has been quite insistent that it will be the young heir of the Malfoy family that will repair their fortunes and reputations within the Wizarding world and that requires a close friendship – or least intimate acquaintance – with the Savior of the Wizarding world and his family. His mother avoided involvement with the Second War and happily allows Grandmére to plot and scheme if it means she can focus on her own interests; namely, fashion, social teas and discrete affairs.

It’s at Grandmére’s knee that Scorpius learns how to gently manipulate situations and people to get what he wants. She warns him against repeating the beliefs of his father and grandfather -- that such thoughts are not fashionable and will prove detrimental to the Malfoy family and honor. She teaches him how to navigate the ever-changing waters of politics and Wizarding society, how to make alliances and choose close acquaintances.

“The Sorting Hat will likely sort you to Slytherin,” Grandmére warned him before he left for his first year at Hogwarts. “Keep your head high and do not let your friendships falter, even if you must take the initiative and reach out to them. I do not believe your friends will shun you for becoming a Slytherin but children can be fickle.”

He swallowed hard and nodded, suddenly terrified that Al will ignore him – or worse, belittle him. James and Teddy both promise to help Al and Scorpius learn to navigate the castle, but what if they renege on their promise? He has a sudden image of wandering around the various corridors of Hogwarts, unable to find any of his classrooms or the Great Hall. It terrifies him, though he has done his best to keep his fear from showing.

None of his fears come true; it helps that Al becomes the first Potter since the eighteenth century to be sorted into Slytherin. James and Teddy uphold their promises and give all of the first year Potter-Weasley clan (and friends) a tour of the school, including helpful (and not so helpful) shortcuts.

The positive aspect of being a Slytherin mean his father and grandfather can no longer complain that the Potter-Weasleys ‘corrupted’ their heir and made him a Gryffindor. For his Grandmére, it means they can take the first step in demonstrating that just because a Malfoy is a Slytherin, it doesn’t mean he is wholly Dark and hates Muggles and Muggleborn. Of course, that he has the friendship of the extended Potter-Weasley clan certainly helps.

In truth, Scorpius feels nothing but awe for Grandmére. She has planned the redemption of the Malfoy name as a general would command a war.

All of this means that for all that Scorpius spends a lot of time with the Potter-Weasley clan, he is, at heart, a Slytherin. So when, at the age of thirteen, he feels warm for the first time in his life and wakes up snuggled between Harry and Ginny, he decides he wants that feeling again. It takes another year for him to realize that more than anything, he wants _them_.

Harry and Ginny Potter, the ‘Golden Couple’ and so totally and absurdly in love with each other that there has never been even the _hint_ of impropriety about either of them. He has no idea – yet – on how to attract their attention but he knew he will.

He is a Malfoy after all.

***

Like any worthwhile Slytherin, Scorpius does not take any action without careful consideration. Seducing the Savior of the Wizarding world and his wife requires a long-term plan, not only because of the age discrepancy but also due to their complete obliviousness to other’s interest in them. Over the years, he has noted that the two never seem to realize when someone attempts to flirt with them. And many have tried.

***

His first action is to ensure that the couple get to know him. He doesn’t want them to see him as ‘Scorpius Malfoy, friend of their son Albus.’ No, he _needs_ them to see him as ‘Scorpius Malfoy, potential lover.’ He will settle, for the moment, with ‘Scorpius Malfoy.’ He starts his campaign slowly; like Grandmére, he knows that the best things – the things that are worth pain and tears – take time. No instant gratification for Scorpius Malfoy.

***

Scorpius visits the Potters on a regular basis during school holidays. Given the large influx of relatives and friends that drop in as they wish, his presence makes little difference. Harry and Ginny always greet him with a smile and steer him towards Al and the younger set. He takes the opportunity – those precious few minutes he has them to himself – to insert _something_ personal.

 _The first time Harry asks him about something he mentioned weeks ago, he can’t hide the wide smile that crosses his face. And when Ginny offers to speak to Grandmére about interning with _The Quibbler_ , he hugs her. They have no idea what it means to him that they _listen_ to what he says instead of ignoring him. _

Scorpius sees it as a positive sign for his plan.

***

Though Al doesn’t realize it, he keeps Scorpius informed of his parent’s movements, therefore allowing him to accept the same social engagements and increase his interaction with them. As he grows older and Grandmére begins to insist he attend Ministry functions, he takes to circling the Golden Couple; he pretends – only half true, really – to detest these type of events and thus, is willing to hold conversation with his best mate’s parents if it means he doesn’t have to circulate more than is polite.

Harry and Ginny – bless their Gryffindor hearts – take his word at face value and always welcome him to their circle of acquaintances with a huge smile. As he grows older, Harry even allows Scorpius to take his wife out for a spin on the dance floor. (Or is it more that Ginny has no problem with it and Harry’s simply grateful to spare his poor feet? Scorpius is never quite sure about that.)

***

He is seventeen the first time he dances with Ginny Potter. She smells like strawberries and fresh air and, funnily enough, broom oil. She moves lightly on her feet, allowing him to lead as they move around the dance floor. By then, she knows him well enough that they can converse with great ease.

She hides a wicked sense of humor behind her Gryffindor exterior. He understands why Harry married her rather than any of the other Wizarding beauties that threw themselves at him after the War.

***

Scorpius graduates from Hogwarts and moves in with Al and Rose. They live in Muggle London, in a flat warded by Bill and Fleur. Al’s a chaser for the Falcons and Rose followed her mum’s footsteps and works in the Ministry. Scorpius is a junior reporter for _The Quibbler_ , a position his father despises but which he (and Grandmére ) sees as beneficial.

Luna and her father assign him to the Ministry beat; he thinks it’s as much of a test of how much the Malfoy attitude has changed as anything else. Scorpius makes sure to act politely and never writes anything for which he doesn’t have proof.

He becomes one of the most respected reporters by the time he’s twenty-three.

***

Grandmére wants him to marry but Scorpius resists. He’s not willing to give up on his dream for all that Harry and Ginny are still oblivious about his attraction to them. He promises himself that he’ll feel that warmth again.

But, deep inside, he fears he never will.

***

It’s by chance that Scorpius stumbles upon the mirror. Just how the Ministry obtained it, he doesn’t know. He’s waiting to interview Sue Bones about a new initiative the Aurors have set up and has been brought to a conference room where the mirror’s being stored. He glances at it and becomes entranced.

***

Later, he will hear that Harry ripped through the Ministry, demanding to know why it hadn’t been warded against notice, to protect those innocents who might come across it and gaze inside. Demands to know why Scorpius -- why anyone -- had been left in the room without a warning about the dangerous object inside.

At the time, Scorpius is unaware of all that. Instead, he simply gazes at the vision he sees before him: Harry and Ginny surround him, Harry’s arm slung across his waist and Ginny leaning up to kiss him. Two looks of love gaze at his mirror image, showing acceptance and desire and warmth.

He aches to experience that for real. He has all but given up on his grand plan, as the years pass and nothing he does seem to work. To see this is almost like a slap in the face but he also doesn’t want to turn away lest he lose this picture.

“Scorpius,” he hears from a distance and feels something shaking him lightly. He ignores it.

“Scorpius Malfoy!” someone shouts in his ear and jerks him away from the reflections.

“No!” he shouts, and struggles to turn around again.

“Shh…” the voice says and holds him closely. “I’m going to get you out of here.” Scorpius struggles, hating whoever holds him for taking him away from the sight of his deepest desire.

He tries to shift his head away as someone shoves a potion down his mouth and forces him to swallow. He continues to struggle until the potion – calming he supposes – works and then he just hangs limply from the arms that hold him, silent tears falling from his eyes.

It hurts him terribly that someone took him from that perfection, that dream, that want, that desire.

“I’ll take him back to mine. He shouldn’t be alone,” his captor explains to someone. Scorpius doesn’t have the strength to even look around himself (dangerous for a Slytherin but then his father often complains the Potter-Weasleys ruined his son and made him into a Gryffindor until Grandmére hushes him.) and clutches weakly at the one who holds him. He feels like he should know the person who holds him, who sounds so concerned about him, but he can’t keep any thoughts straight in his head.

***

There aren’t very many who care for Scorpius. Grandmére, naturally. Aunt Andromeda and Cousin Teddy (never Theodore no matter how much Grandmére chastises him for such an informal address), Al and Rose. Harry and Ginny. His parents, of course, care for him in their own way, even if they do not do so in a manner he wants.

Maybe that’s why he dreams of that warmth he felt for the first time over a decade ago.

***

Scorpius gradually becomes aware of something he hasn’t felt in a very long time: true warmth. Two sets of arms embrace him, hold him and soothe him as he cries for the reflection from which he has been so cruelly torn. A part of him feels that he should be embarrassed for his breakdown, but he can’t force himself to do so, not when he finally achieved his dream.

He won’t let it slip away from him.

He looks up, meeting the worried brown eyes of Ginny Potter. Trails of tears track down his face and his lips tremble with an overload of emotion. He searches her gaze, looking for anything that implies permission. Finally, he decides to gamble, to act the Gryffindor his father accuses him of being, and he leans up and captures her lips with his.

Two sets of gasps, one muffled by his lips. Scorpius desperately tries to put his feelings into his kiss, showing Ginny the passion, desire and want he has. She stays still for so many long moments that he despairs at his failure. But then – then her lips part and he swoops in and tastes her for the first time.

She tastes better than he dreamed, tart with a hint of sweetness. He keeps charge of the kiss, leading her, demonstrating to her all that he feels. All that he wants. He smirks as she whimpers. And then his heart almost falls to his toes as the warmth against his back disappears.

Scorpius turns around to find a strangely blank-faced Harry Potter easing away from them and he can’t stand the lack of _anything_ in his face. Desperately, he grabs his hand, draws him down and kisses him.

Like his wife, Harry is shocked. And, like Ginny, it takes him a moment to respond to his actions. Unlike her, Harry refuses to act the passive recipient of the kiss and he returns Scorpius’ fervor. Their tongues dueled for dominance, teeth nip at soft plump lips and hands grasp firmly at strong shoulders. And unlike Harry, Ginny does not move from where she sits. Instead, she places a hand on his shoulder, dragging her fingers slowly up his neck, drifting in his hair.

He shivers. Warmth sings through his veins and he exults at the feeling. At the warmth.

Harry tears his lips away from his and pants. Stares into Scorpius’ eyes, brow furrowed with thought. He shifts his head and Scorpius knows that he now looks at his wife. A part of him wants to turn, to see what Ginny thinks or feels but he forces himself to remain still.

“What do you want, Scorpius?” Harry asks and his voice is rough with so much emotion.

“You,” he admits. “Both of you,” he adds, in case it isn’t clear.

Harry frowns and runs a hand through his hair.

“Why?” Ginny asks. He turns to face her and then shifts so he can see them both.

“You make me feel warm,” he says, flushing with embarrassment. It sounds so silly – so ludicrous! But to him, it makes perfect sense.

“I… I don’t understand,” she admits. She bites her lip and her eyes meet those of her husband, who looks just as confused as she.

“You know my family,” Scorpius says softly.

“They care for you,” Harry argues.

Scorpius nods, not disputing that. “The first time I felt warm, truly warm, I woke up after falling into a river to find myself held between the two of you.”

He waits patiently as they remember. Ginny flushes and Harry looks shocked “I had never felt so warm before and I want it again.”

“What do you want from us?” Harry asks again.

“Whatever you’re willing to give me,” Scorpius says. He tries to sound brave, to act as if their reaction won’t destroy him or lift him up to dazzling heights.

Silence descends; he tries not to squirm under the heavy weight of emotions. Each sound – the rustle of fabric as they each move against the sofa upon which they sit, the careful breaths aimed at keep each person from hyperventilating – echo in the room and sound far louder than it should.

“What did you see in the Mirror?” Harry asks.

Scorpius tilts his head with confusion. “What?” he asks.

“The Mirror,” Harry repeats and he sounds impatient, “at the Ministry. You looked at the Mirror of Erised. What did you see?”

He sounds so intent, as if the answer will decide his course of action that Scorpius can’t dissemble. “I saw you and Ginny and me. Together.” He tries to fight the blush that threatens to steal across his face but can’t.

Harry lets out a rush of breath and seems to almost wilt against the sofa’s cushions.

“Harry?” Ginny asks. She sounds as confused as Scorpius feels.

“The Mirror of Erised shows a person’s deepest desire. Doesn’t matter if it’s acknowledged or not – it’ll still show it to you,” Harry explains. He rubs the bridge of his nose.

“How do you know?” Scorpius asks.

He smiles softly. “I was eleven when I stumbled across it. I saw images of my family for the first time that I can remember.”

Ginny’s mouth shapes an ‘o’ and she nods as if she finally understands. “That was after you got your cloak, right?” she asks.

“Yep,” he says.

“So, if Scorpius looked at the Mirror and saw…” she trails off and gestures between the three of them.

“Precisely,” Harry says.

“Pardon,” Scorpius begins, “but what exactly do you mean?” His heart pounds, wondering if he’s actually about to obtain what he has dreamed about for the last decade.

Harry gets to his feet and kneels before Scorpius and Ginny. His action causes something to flutter deep inside of Scorpius. He waits, anticipation running and zinging through him for the older man’s verdict.

He reaches out to take each of their hands. Almost automatically, Scorpius seeks out Ginny’s, completing the circle. A rush of _something_ envelopes him and the warmth he has craved since he first felt it all those years ago reappears.

Someone – not him, at least he doesn’t think it is – lets out a gasp.

“You feel it too,” he whispers and Ginny nods.

Harry licks his lips. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

Scorpius nods. “With all my heart.”

Ginny and Harry look at one another and then at him. “Then,” Ginny says, “you are ours.”

 _/fin_

**Author's Note:**

>  **Disclaimer:** [Insert witty comment here] Harry Potter does not belong to me.  
>  **Notes:** Betaed by the wonderful DB. Written for shipsharry for the Harry Potter/Scorpius Malfoy ficathon.


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